Carbon dioxide pressure is higher in the tissue cells than it is in the blood found in the tiny blood vessels called capillaries that weave their way around the cells, and so carbon dioxide moves from the cells out into the blood.
When the concentration of carbon dioxide is sufficiently high in the capillaries, the red blood cells, or haemoglobin, release oxygen so that it can enter the tissue cells where it is needed to combine with sugars to produce energy, along with carbon dioxide and water.
If the carbon dioxide concentration in the blood is a little on the low side, then haemoglobin does not release as much oxygen, and so the body doesn't make as much energy, carbon dioxide or water at that time.
Ordinarily this is a really good system: when the body is working hard, the cells need more oxygen that they keep using up, and because the cells are burning all this oxygen they are making lots of carbon dioxide that can move into the blood, ensuring more oxygen delivery...
This reliance that oxygen has on carbon dioxide for delivery to tissues is called the Bohr effect, and is mainly due to the way that carbon dioxide affects the acidity or alkalinity of the blood. When the blood is slightly more alkaline (not so much carbon dioxide), the haemoglobin clings to oxygen like a drowning man clutches to straws, and when the blood is slightly less alkaline (extra carbon dioxide in the blood), haemoglobin willingly lets oxygen go.
In real terms, what Christian Bohr discovered is that when you breathe the right amount of air for the level of activity, then the body works perfectly. If you don't breathe quite enough air, then the pH (acidity - alkalinity) drops and extra oxygen is driven off the haemoglobin, and if you breathe too much air the pH rises, and less oxygen is released to the tissue cells.
So, this means that if you breathe too much air each minute, you are less able to use the oxygen that is already in your blood stream, which is probably the exact opposite to what you probably would think.
It also means that the muscles will make extra lactic acid when you over-breathe, which causes burning or aching muscles and fatigue. Think how you felt last time you had to carry a heavy suitcase up a flight of stairs. At first it seems relatively easy, but after a few steps your arm begins to ache and the suitcase starts to suddenly feel a lot heavier. This is lactic acid building up, making you slow down or stop so that you do not damage your muscles because they do not have sufficient oxygen.
Therefore: breathing too much air paradoxically makes you more short of breath and prone to making extra lactic acid.
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